


Out Into Darkness

by akire_yta



Series: prompt ficlets [109]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: AU, M/M, Pacific Rim - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:51:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1220095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>snarkasaurus asked: CARLOS AND CECIL. SCIENCE BROS ACCIDENTALLY DRIFTING.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out Into Darkness

"The neural load, it’s still too much!" Carlos ripped off his glasses and tossed them onto the pile of readouts.  Cecil made a soft noise of sympathy, his chair creaking as he span around to watch Carlos rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly, muttering about filters.

Cecil knew what that meant - he’d spent too many years watching Carlos at work not to.  He gave Dana the nod, and she quietly began herding all the techs and test pilots out of the room.  A minute later, it was only the two of them and the faint  _click-click-whirr_ of the control interface cooling down.  Only then did he speak.  ”You’ll get it.   _We’ll_  get it.”

Carlos gave Cecil a lopsided smile.  The double-skip of Cecil’s heart was so familiar now as to be unremarkable.  Carlos would never see him as anything more than his pet neuroscientist. Cecil pushed out of his chair and gently rested his hands on Carlos’ tense shoulders.  Carlos sighed and picked up his glasses.  ”The neural load is just too much,” he muttered again,

"Share the load," Cecil said without thinking, his mother’s voice echoing down from the past.

Carlos sat up so fast he dislodged Cecil’s hands.  ”What?”

Cecil hooked his chair with his foot and dragged it over, feeling every hour since he last slept.  ”Just something my mother used to tell my brother and me when we were unloading the truck on the ranch,” he shrugged, pausing when he saw Carlos’ face.  ”What?”

"Share the load," Carlos breathed.

Cecil swallowed as he realized what Carlos was suggesting.  ”They…two…they’d have to be so in synch with each other, otherwise they’d just collapse in a heap.”

"But if they could find a rhythm," Carlos pressed, licking his lips, his eyes locking with Cecil’s.

Cecil knew he should tell Carlos he was being crazy.  It had been hard enough to sell hooking a jaeger to one pilot.  Adding another was unthinkable.  But no sleep and the looming threat of another landfall had taken away all other options.  And at the end of the day, when Carlos asked, there was only one answer Cecil could give. “Okay.”

When they were finished building it, no pilot would agree to test it.  Dana gave them an ‘I told you so’ look.

"I know this will work.  I know it." Carlos was rubbing the bridge of his nose again.  Cecil hated the creases that were etching into his skin there.

Cecil took a deep breath, stood up, and held out his hand.

The machine was loud, their breathing louder.  Right before Dana hit the button, Carlos smiled at Cecil, that indecipherable smile he’d always saved for Cecil. 

Then the Drift swept into them.  Cecil gasped for air as he was there, in Carlos’s head, Carlos in his.  And clear as day at the front of Carlos’ mind.

 _I’m glad it was you_.


End file.
